


Genet and the Bounty Hunter

by Durendal



Series: Shore Leave [1]
Category: Star Wars Legends: Republic Commando Series - Karen Traviss, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Bounty Hunters, Coruscant, F/M, Republic Commandos - Freeform, Triple Zero
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 04:36:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6689365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Durendal/pseuds/Durendal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While on shore leave, Republic Commando Genet runs into a bounty hunter and her quarry. Or rather, they run into him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

21 BBY

Coruscant

Genet walked uncertainly through the streets, alone and unarmoured. He wasn’t sure which felt stranger. He was so used to having his squadmates watching his back and his armour to protect him that going around an unfamiliar landscape without them just felt alien. Every now and then he’d see a few men from the Forty-first Elite wandering around and that made him feel a little better. Still, they weren’t his squadmates, and they weren’t any more armed than he was. Like him, they were in their red fatigues. 

This was all Cabur’s fault. As soon as they had received word that they were eligible for shore leave, he had insisted that they take time for themselves. Cabur had apparently wanted them to develop some independence, and so had opted to go out and sightsee. Jawbreaker, although somewhat reluctant, had eventually given in to Cabur’s suggestion. Genet and Destroyer had decided to check out a blaster store that Sergeant Kelborn had suggested to them, during one of his check-ins with them. Genet smiled, despite Sergeant Kelborn’s insistence that he was not their father, he still made sure to check in with his squads at least once a month. 

“Out of the way!”

Genet grunted as a Gran male roughly shoved past him. Judging by the scars on his face, the holstered blaster pistol on his hip, and the hurry he seemed to be in, Genet gathered that the Gran was probably a criminal. _Likely just a small time crook, maybe a mugger or something_. Genet huffed, _The Coruscant Security Force or the Coruscanti Guard can deal with the common criminals; I have better things to do_.

“Move it!” 

Genet found himself shoved aside again, and he cursed the fact that he was out of his armour. A purple blur ran past him, and Genet did a double take. His assailant was a Human female, and while he hadn’t paid much notice to the first man’s appearance past a cursory glance, Genet could not help but stare at the woman. 

Genet was tall, but this woman had at least five centimetres on him. She had olive skin and long black hair that fell to her shoulders. She wore light armour that had shoulder-pads, but didn’t cover her arms. It was painted purple, with gold stripes along the shoulders. Holstered to her hip was an APC repeater gun, in her hand was another, pointed to the sky. Genet wasn’t sure which he found the most attractive; her looks, her height or her weapons.

_On second thought_ , Genet thought as he broke into a sprint, _for all I know, that Gran is a dangerous criminal. Could be an assassin, or a terrorist. And of course, there’s always the chance that woman could need backup. She’s probably good, but is she commando good?_

The three raced through the streets, roughly shoving aside anyone unfortunate enough to be in their path. Genet winced as he knocked a Rodian down; Cabur would not approve at all. A few minutes into the pursuit, the Gran ducked into an alleyway, and Genet and the woman followed him. The Gran seemed surprised when he came to a dead-end.

“Oh come on!” The Gran exclaimed, throwing his arms up into the air.

“You know, if you’d seen how these things go down in the holofilms, you’d have known that was coming,” The woman said, shaking her head. 

The Gran snapped his head around to face the two. His eye stalks first went from the woman, then to Genet. The bounty hunter followed the Gran’s stare, and she turned to Genet, seeming mildly surprised that another person was there. It passed quickly enough, and she nodded at him, before turning back to the criminal. 

“Yhdee Leesees, you’re a wanted man.” 

The Gran, Leesees, snarled at the bounty hunter and drew his blaster. The bounty hunter kept her own blaster trained on Leesees, and the two faced each other off. Once again, Genet found himself annoyed by his lack of equipment. He slowly edged his way to one side of the alley, out of the way of any potential crossfire. 

“Leesees, you know my trigger finger is a lot quicker than yours. Put it down and I won’t have to blast you. I’d rather not have to drag your body back to my speeder.” 

Leesees’ lip curled back into a snarl and he tightened his grip on his blaster. After a moment, however, he spat and slowly lowered his weapon to the ground. 

The woman smiled “Smart.” 

She moved towards him, grabbing a pair of binders from her belt. Behind her, Genet moved up, curious and wanting a better view. As the woman got close to Leesees, his arm shot out and knocked the blaster from her hand. It struck one of the alley walls and a made a loud cracking noise as it struck. Quickly, Leesees lashed out again, but the bounty hunter leaped back. Leesees’ hand moved towards his blaster, only for Genet to tackle him, knocking him down and sending the blaster skidding away. Leesees let out a rough gasp as the commando’s body crashed into him, and he let out a pained grunt as he hit the ground. Genet quickly jumped back to his feet and raised his fists up defensively. He cast his eyes in the bounty hunter’s direction. 

“Stupid rookie mistake!” The woman muttered to herself.

Leesees was back on his feet and looked furious, his lips were peeled back in a snarl. The Gran threw a punch, only for the woman to grab his arm. She followed up with three rapid kicks to his ribs, and Leesees grunted in pain and doubled over. The woman tightened her grip on his arm and flipped him hard onto the ground. 

“Seriously, stay down! You keep this up and I’m going to have to break something!” The woman snarled, moving towards Leesees.

Moving with surprising speed, Leesees’ hand shout out and grabbed the woman’s leg. He pulled hard and sent her slamming onto her back. She let out a cry of shock as she hit the ferrocrete. Leesees clambered to his feet and moved to stand over the woman. He tried to bring his boot down on her head, only for her to roll to the side. Before he could try again, Genet rushed forward and jabbed twice at Leesees’ face. The Gran’s head snapped back and a stream of blood arced through the air, striking the walls and the front of Genet’s fatigues. He was suddenly very thankful that they were already red. The woman took the opportunity to get back to her feet and clapped a hand to Genet’s shoulder. She and Leesees faced each other, both bruised and sweaty from the fight. 

“Give it up already!” The woman snapped.

Leesees spat at her, all three of his eyes narrowed “Kriff you, bounty hunter!” 

The woman sighed and hunched her body down “Fine, have it your way!”

As they rushed at each other, she hooked her arms around his shoulders and swung herself around Leesees completely. As Genet watched, she wrapped one arm around his neck, jumped up and slammed his face into the ground. Leesees let out a groan, before his eyes closed. He was unconscious. 

“Finally,” the woman muttered, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. Her eyes turned to Genet “Thanks for the assist.” She held out her hand “Becca Katengela, professional bounty hunter, amateur holographer.”

“Genet.” He shook her hand, being careful not to crush it in his grip.

“So, you’re a clone, right?” Becca asked.

“What gave it away?”

“Well, the fact that I’ve seen over a dozen, almost identical people all wearing the exact same clothes might have something to do with it.” She peered at him closely “Though I don’t recall any of the others having grey hair.”

Genet ran a hand through his hair and suddenly felt very self-conscious. After Geonosis, he had trimmed his hair down into a flattop style and coloured it grey, to match his armour. He felt his face grow hot and he turned away.

“Yeah, I dyed it that way. I…I like the colour.”

The corner of Becca’s lip twitched upwards into a smile. “Gusty. Not a lot of people would actually _want_ to make their hair grey.” 

Genet shrugged, then paused and looked around. His eyes settled on the remains of Becca’s discarded blaster. He walked over to it and was dismayed by what he saw. The casing was cracked and seemed to be sparking alarmingly. 

Becca frowned, picked it up and examined it “Unreliable hunk of junk. I’m gonna need to find a more reliable blaster series.” She offhandedly threw it into a nearby bin. 

A thought occurred to Genet “You know, I was actually headed to a blaster shop before I ran into you,” _Or rather, when you ran into me_ , he thought “if you want, I could take you there?”

Becca stopped to consider it, then nodded “Yeah, alright. I just need to drop off Leesees first, then you can show me. Come on, my speeder’s this way.” 

Genet looked at Leesees’ unconscious form “You…need a hand with him?” Genet asked.

“Na, I’m good, I got him,” Becca said as she hoisted the unconscious Gran over her shoulder. 

Genet frowned “You know, that’s not a very good way to carry hum. That could damage his back.”

Becca snorted “I look like I care? After all the trouble he’s put me through, I think he deserves a little back pain.” She started to move off, Leesees slung over her shoulder. 

The two walked on in silence for a moment. Genet wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind. He was unused to talking to civilians, he so rarely had the opportunity. Thankfully, Becca spoke up. 

“So, what were you doing wandering around?” Becca asked.

“Oh, you know, seeing the sights.”

“Shore leave, huh?”

“Yeah…” 

That was a recent development, and it had been the work of Sergeant Kal Skirata. Hyperion Squad had never particularly liked the man; it was something they had picked up from their training sergeant, Ambu Kelborn. As far as they were concerned, Skirata was an emotionally unstable, bitter old wreck of a man. Still, for all those faults, Genet had to admit, Skirata sincerely cared for the clone troopers. 

When he had received the news, Jawbreaker had done the unthinkable.

He had _thanked_ Skirata.

It had been through gritted teeth and with great reluctance, but Jawbreaker had sincerely thanked Skirata for what he had done. Skirata had been as pleasantly surprised as the rest of Hyperion Squad had been shocked. Granted, Jawbreaker had rebuked Skirata when the older man had tried to call him _Jaw’ika_ , but still, that he had even approached Skirata at all was something of a small miracle. 

Somewhere out there, Genet was sure that some robas had learned to fly. 

Genet shook his head. It was turning into a very weird weeks. Shore leave, then Jawbreaker thanking Skirata and now this bounty hunter.

Weird, but very pleasant.

“So, what did he do?” Genet jerked his head at Leesees. 

Becca shrugged, a curious gesture with the Gran draped over one shoulder “Let’s just say, he stole from the wrong people.”

Genet quirked one brow at her. She shook her head, apparently unwilling to say more.

Becca peered at Genet curiously “Why do you do that?” 

“Do what?” Genet asked, confused.

“When you walk, you only swing your left arm.” She pointed out.

It was true; it was an odd quirk of Genet’s. Whenever he walked and his hands were free, he would only swing his left arm. Sergeant Kelborn did not have that trait, so Genet hadn’t picked it up from him. Even Genet was unsure of why he did this, all he knew was that it felt somehow wrong to swing both arms. 

“I ever find a satisfying answer, you’ll be the first to know,” Genet said with a shrug.

Becca stopped “Here’s my ride.”

Genet looked at Becca’s vehicle and immediately did a double take. At first glance, it appeared to be a BARC speeder bike with a sidecar, but on closer inspection Genet realised it was a different model. The two seemed to be very similar, although the speeder in front of them lacked any weaponry and was bulkier.

“You like it? _Ripper_ -class speeder bike, she’s my baby,” Becca said, a clear note of pride in her voice as she dumped Leesees in the sidecar. 

“It looks like the speeders our forces use,” Genet noted, his eyes glued to the speeder.

“Yeah, made by the same company, I think. Not surprising; the Ripper’s a great ride, very fast. Makes sense they’d update the design for you guys.” 

Genet peered closely at the speeder and frowned “The sidecar is full, where do I…?”

Becca had already climbed on and was tying her hair back into a ponytail “Well, I’m driving, so that means you’ll just have to hang on.”

Genet was beginning to wonder if chasing after the bounty hunter had been a good idea. Sergeant Kelborn had never really explained women to them. The one time the subject had been brought up, Kelborn had paused for a moment, and then had walked off and dragged Sergeant Tervho back by the arm and tried to get her to explain things. Or at least, that was what Dare of Trident Squad had said had happened. Genet had been in the medical ward following an unfortunate incident with a KE-8 Enforcer, so he couldn’t be sure.

After some hesitation, he sat down behind Becca and gingerly wrapped his arms around her waist. His heart was beating rapidly, Stang, I get shot at on a regular basis, why is this scaring me so much?

“Okay, so first we drop off Leesees, then you show me this blaster shop you mentioned.” 

And at that, they sped off into the skylanes of Coruscant.


	2. Chapter 2

The speeder bike set down outside of a nightclub in the Uscru Entertainment District. The sign above the door read “ _PURGATORY_ ”, and neon purple flames flashed brightly, lighting up the people in line for entry.

Genet exhaled, he hated flying. He had been alarmed to find that he had been close to quivering. That certainly wouldn’t have given Becca a good impression. For some reason, that scared him almost as much as the flying. 

Becca squirmed in his grip. “Ah, you mind letting go of my waist? You’re kind of crushing me.”

Genet winced. “Right, sorry.” His arms had locked up, so with some slight difficulty, he unwrapped his arms from Becca’s midriff. 

Becca got off of the speeder and examined her armour. “Problem flyer?”

Genet hesitated before he replied “Something like that, yeah. My transport got shot down on my first deployment. Wasn’t fun.” 

Becca stared at him, one brow raised in surprise. “Really? I wouldn’t have expected that, I thought you guys were supposed to be fearless, perfect soldiers.” 

Genet frowned. “We can feel fear, we just usually work through it. We all feel it, though,” he said quickly, perhaps somewhat defensively. 

Becca quirked her lips. “Hmmm, now that’s interesting. You guys definitely aren’t what I expected.”

“What were you expecting, sapient droids?” Genet shot back, a frown crossing his face, his body suddenly tense.

“Hey, take it easy, I didn’t mean it like that.” Becca held up a hand placatingly, looking mildly surprised by the outburst. 

Genet sighed and relaxed his body, his shoulders slumping. “Sorry, I guess it’s kind of a touchy subject.” 

Becca opened her mouth to say something, then her eyes flicked behind Genet. She scowled and narrowed her eyes. 

“Ah, kriff, not these two,” Becca muttered, and Genet followed her gaze. 

Two people walked out of the front door of the club. One was a woman wearing a long, black, leather jacket. Her ebony hair was pulled back into a bun, held in place with two hair-sticks. Her face and arms were laced with old, but vicious-looking scars. Genet frowned; the scars seemed familiar somehow, like he had seen similar wounds before. Hanging from her belt was a long, wickedly sharp, serrated vibro-knife. More knives, all much smaller, were strapped to her tight, black pants, all attached to a number of bands that ran down her legs. 

Walking beside her was a man wearing a cylindrical, purple helmet, with a gold forehead and a large mouth-grill taking up a good portion of the face. Just above it was a narrow, black slit of a visor that reminded Genet somewhat of one of Chancellor Palpatine’s Red Guardsmen. Compared to the woman he was with, he was heavily armoured, wrapped protectively in purple-painted durasteel. A belt-spat was attached to his waist, and for a moment, Genet was reminded of the kamas that some of the Cuy’val Dar and ARC troopers wore. Secured to his back was a meter-long, double-edged pike. 

“Who are they?” Genet asked, watching the two closely.

Becca rolled her eyes. “The welcoming committee. Let me do the talking, here; it’d be better if they don’t know who you are.” 

Genet frowned, suddenly feeling very conspicuous in his red fatigues and very vulnerable without his blaster. 

“Tara, Arja.” Becca greeted them tersely, giving each of them the slightest of nods. 

“Becca,” The woman, Tara replied, slowly drawing out the other woman’s name. 

“Long time no see,” Arja added, before turning to Genet. “Who’s this?”

Becca’s eyes briefly flicked to Genet, before turning back to the newcomers. “He’s nobody, don’t worry about him. What’s important is that I caught Leesees.” Becca tilted her head in the direction of the sidecar, where the Gran still lay, unconscious.

Tara’s lips twitched to the side as she peered into the sidecar. “Hmmm, so you did. That’s disappointing; I was hoping to catch him myself. It wouldn’t have been much sport, but it’s better than nothing.” She caressed the handle of her vibroblade as she spoke; she had a strong accent that humans who had been raised on Cathar or Lannik tended towards. Genet had an ear for accents, as did most of the commandos for that matter. They had been trained to learn them to help them identify potential targets. 

Genet eyed the blade carefully. It was practically big enough to be a short sword. Judging by the number of knicks and scratches along its length, it was well used and had tasted much blood. It reminded him of the vibrosword that Sergeant Kelborn would sometimes wear on his belt. That had been a vicious, well used blade, too. But whereas Genet knew that Kelborn mostly used his for hunting and cutting through vines, the clone got the feeling that the woman across from him used it for different purposes entirely. Genet had to supress a scowl, it was very clear just what kind of people Tara and Arja were. 

Becca’s lip twitched. “Well, luckily for Leesees, you were standing around here. Listen, we’ve got to get going, we’ve got better places to be. So, if you can just pay me what I’m owed, we’ll be on our way,” Becca said, her hands on her hips. 

“Not so fast, the Boss wants a word with you,” Arja spoke up.

Becca sighed loudly. “Well, tell Windstream that I’m busy. I’ve got to be somewhere else and I don’t have time to go in and talk with him.” 

Tara placed a hand on her vibroblade, gripped it tightly and locked eyes with Becca. “Careful now, Becca. You might have been his favourite, but that only gets you so far. You know how insistent he can be.” 

Becca’s eyes flicked to the vibroblade, before she put a hand on her blaster. “Careful yourself. I’m much quicker on the draw than you are.”

Tara drummed her fingers along the handle of the blade. “Oh? Are you certain of that? I am very fast with this. You won’t even see it coming.” 

Genet almost rolled his eyes. Tara reminded him somewhat of Isabet Reau, back during his days on Kamino. She had also liked to intimidate others, mostly the cadets, with a vibroblade. It had certainly scared him, when he was younger and facing down the sharp edge of the knife. Of course, that had been a long time ago, when he had still been small. He had grown a great deal since then. 

Genet stepped forward, ignoring the surprised look that Becca shot him. Tara, meanwhile, looked very pleased. With a flourish, Tara pulled her vibroblade from her belt, twirling it effortlessly between her fingers. After the quick show, she held it out, pointing it straight at Genet’s heart. “You think you can take me? Please, go ahead.”

Genet’s eyes flicked down to the vibroblade, before he reached up and gripped the edge with one hand. He ignored the pain of the blade as it cut into his fingers, instead focusing on the suddenly widened eyes of the woman across from him. When he spoke, his voice was even and unafraid. “As threatening as you think you are, I’ve seen much, much worse.” And at that, he pushed the vibroblade back towards its owner, sending a few flecks of blood spattering across her front.

For the first time, Tara’s smile faltered. From the corner of his eye, Genet could see Becca looking at him, in a different way than she had looked at him before. He could see the edge of her lip curling into a smirk.

Arja growled and reached for his weapon, only for Tara to quickly place a hand on his bicep. “No need.” She gave him a quick glance, and he slowly moved his hand back to his side. Tara turned to Genet, her expression puzzled. “You say you’ve faced worse than me? Very curious. I am wondering, who are you?” 

Genet looked to Becca, who simply raised an eyebrow at him. Genet looked to Tara again and shrugged. “Me? I’m no one.” 

Tara’s eyes flicked up and down Genet’s body. “You don’t look like no one. You look strong.”

“He looks like a soldier to me,” Arja said. 

“Oh? A soldier? A mercenary, perhaps?” Tara asked, glancing over her shoulder at Arja, who merely grunted in response. She turned back to Genet. “Well? Are you a mercenary?” 

“Really not your business, is it?” Genet shot back, not quite glaring at her.

Tara’s lip twitched, before she addressed Becca. “You have a very mysterious friend. Perhaps next time you come up, you can bring him with you? I would be very interested in seeing him again.” She ran a finger down the edge of her blade. “I’m sure I could get him to open up.” 

Genet snorted. “She’s trying way too hard,” he said to Becca, not even looking at Tara.

Becca nodded, and like Genet, made a point of ignoring the criminal. “Right? I can never take her seriously, and this is the reason why. She’s such a drama queen!” 

Tara suddenly lashed out, vibroblade swinging wildly. Genet and Becca leapt back at almost the exact same time. There was a sudden uproar among the crowd, as they panicked and scattered in all directions, desperate not to get caught in the crossfire of the fight. All were sure to steer well clear of the combatants, however, and the fleeing masses gave the three of them a wide birth. As the crowd dispersed, Tara lunged at Becca. 

Genet started forward to help, but found himself caught up in the rush of the panicked club-goers. Genet cursed, and tried to shove the civillians away so that he could get to Becca and help. Remembering Arja, Genet stopped to throw a cautionary glance at the other man. To Genet’s surprise, however, Arja remained where he stood, not moving a muscle. Genet frowned, not sure what to make of it, before shaking it off to focus on the two women. 

Still wading through the crowd, he observed Tara’s fighting style. She was fast, probably faster than he was, striking out with lightning quick slashes. But then, Becca was quick too, dodging and ducking every thrust and cut that Tara sent her way. Still, Becca’s armour slowed her down, and finally, one of Tara’s stabs connected. Becca hissed as the blade plunged into her armour’s midsection, apparently stuck. Her hands darted down, grabbed Tara’s wrists, and jerked them away from the knife’s handle. Before the gangster could react, Becca roughly shoved her. With one hand, Becca yanked the knife from her armour and sent it flying. 

Finally clear of the civilians, Genet moved forward and grabbed Tara by the waist. With a snarl, she snapped her head into his chin, dazing him. Still, he managed to keep his grip, until she repeated the attack and he let her slip from his hands. She whirled around and smashed her fist into his stomach. Genet grunted, the air knocked from his lungs as he doubled over. Looking up, the commando could see Tara lacing her hands together into a single fist, raised and ready to slam into his head. But Becca tackled her from behind, knocking both women away from him. 

Genet, taking advantage of Tara’s distraction, rushed towards the stanchions that marked the entry queue, unhooked one from the rest, and started towards the brawling women. 

Genet swung the partition hard into Tara’s midriff. The thug let out a loud exhale and clutched her stomach. Before Genet could do anything else, Becca surged past him and kicked Tara on the chin, sending her sprawling to the ground. Just as quickly, Becca drew her blaster and pointed it squarely at Tara’s face. 

“You’re not going to shoot me,” Tara said, glaring vibrodaggers up at Becca. “Why go through all that trouble before if you could have just shot me?”

“Too much risk of hitting civilians. Now that you’re down on the ground, though? Lot harder to hit an innocent bystander, sweetie,” Becca said, her voice soft and full of malice.

Tara scoffed. “You always were soft.” 

Becca’s eyes flicked to a pouch on Tara’s belt. “Oh, is that mine? I’ll just take that, thank you.” Not taking her eyes off of Tara, Becca kept her blaster trained with one hand. With the other, Becca reached down and yanked the pouch off of the other woman’s belt. “Jen? Get Leesees out of the sidecar. Just dump him on the sidewalk, these two can carry him in.”

It took Genet a second to realise that Becca was talking to him. “Oh, yeah, got it.” He started towards the speeder, dragged Leesees out and unceremoniously dropped him onto the ferrocrete. He winced as the unconscious body hit the ground with a thump, silently hoping that Leesees deserved that. 

Becca stared down Arja, but her blaster was still aimed squarely at Tara. “So, why didn’t you help out?”

“The Boss doesn’t want you dead. Like I said, you’re still his favourite, and I think he’d be more than a little sore if we killed you,” Arja explained.

“Okay, so if that’s the case, any reason why you didn’t want to reign her in, then?” Becca asked, motioning to Tara with her weapon. 

“Because I’ve seen you fight, I knew you could take her.” Arja glanced over to where Becca had flung the knife. “Besides, I wasn’t about to get in-between the two of you while Tara was flailing around like that. You know how wild she gets when she’s caught up in the moment.”

Becca gestured to the place where her armour had been partially punctured and scowled. “Yes, Arja, yes I do.”

Arja shrugged. “Yeah, well, like I said, I knew you could handle it.” He wavered for a moment, before he spoke again. “The Boss isn’t going to be happy about this, you know that,” Arja cautioned.

“Yeah, well, he can take it up with me some other time. Right now, I don’t really care.” Becca shrugged. 

Arja stood where he was for a moment, before walking over to Tara. He bent over, gripped her hand and helped her up. “You okay?” He asked, his voice softer than it had been before.

Tara spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground, then smiled at Arja. Genet was surprised by how sincere it looked. “Fine; they don’t hit very hard.” Tara replied, her teeth stained red, one arm clutching her stomach. 

“You heard what I said, right? About not wanting to piss off the Boss?” Arja’s head jerked back in the direction of the club.

Tara rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes, I heard you. But I wasn’t trying to kill her, not really. I just wanted to cut her a little, non-fatally.” 

From the corner of his eye, Genet could see Becca shake her head. 

Arja snorted, then gently shoved Tara’s shoulder. The two of them strode over to Leesees and each picked up one set of limbs. Arja grabbed the Gran’s arms, while Tara handled Leesees’ legs. With no trouble at all, the two hoisted him up and carried him back towards the building’s entrance. 

“Catch you later, Becca,” Tara called out to them, her tone mocking, before she and Arja vanished into the club. 

Becca pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Psycho _schutta_ ,” she muttered, so quietly that Genet barely caught it. She suddenly turned around and threw a quick glance at Genet. “Come on, let’s get going.” Becca swung her legs over the seat of her speeder bike. 

Genet made towards the speeder, then looked down at his bleeding, stinging hand. “Ow…” He gasped, almost regretting he had done it. Almost. 

“You know, doing that was either really brave, or really stupid, or both.” Becca shook her head.

“I think that’s called courage,” Genet said, his tone flippant as he shook the blood onto the pavement. 

Becca grabbed the commando’s hand and peered closely at the gash. “You know what? Probably just stupid, you don’t know where that blade’s been.” Becca wrinkled her nose at that, and she released Genet’s palm. 

Genet paused, then hesitantly, asked: “Do I want to know?”

Becca snorted. “Oh, I’m sure you don’t, but I have a few ideas. Which means you should really, really get that cut cleaned, and stat. Get on, I’ve got some disinfectant and bacta patches back at my apartment; it’s not too far from here.” 

Genet jerked his head in surprise. “Um, your apartment? You’re taking me back to your home?” 

“Yeah. Is that a problem for you?” 

Genet suddenly found himself filled with that strange nervousness that had come over him earlier. “Um, no, no problem,” he said, perhaps just a little too quickly. 

Becca shot Genet a small smirk. “Good to know.” 

As he sat down behind Becca, he wrapped his arms back around her waist, though, more gingerly than the first time. He flinched as his wounded hand came down on his arm. 

They rode in silence, the wind as they flew through the skylanes of Coruscant making conversation impossible. After a few minutes of air travel, Becca pulled into the parking structure of an apartment complex. 

“C’mon, it’s this way.” Becca dismounted her speeder and began quickly walking off, Genet trailing closely behind her. 

“How’d she get those scars?” Genet abruptly asked, thinking back to Tara’s strange-looking wounds.

Becca seemed surprised by the question, shooting Genet a curious look. “Who, Tara? Knife fight with a nexu. At least, that’s what she says,” Becca said, shrugging “She also tells people her dad set kath hounds on her as a kid. She’s messed up enough that I can believe that one.” 

Genet blinked, floored. That was why the scars seemed so familiar. Sergeant Kelborn had nexu claw scars on his torso, he had said that he had got them on Malastare, on a particularly eventful hunting trip with Sergeant Tervho. 

“Ah, she might be telling the truth about the nexu, too,” Genet said.

Becca arched a brow at him. “How would you know?” 

Genet thought back to the story that Sergeant Kelborn had told him and the other cadets once, years back. It had involved the remnants of a spice cartel, a nest of vicious skettos and a slitherhorn. “It’s kind of a long story,” Genet muttered, trying to think of how he could possibly tell it.

Becca let out a short laugh. “Well, you’ll have to tell me about it at some point then. I’m curious now.” 

The two walked into a turbolift. For a moment, the two stood there, lapsing back into silence. It was broken when Becca fumbled through the pouch she had taken from Tara, then turned to Genet. 

“Oh, yeah, one thing.” Becca flicked two cred-chips at Genet, and he fumbled to catch them. He grimaced when the credits slapped against his lacerated palm, before moving them to his good hand. 

“What’s this for?” Genet asked, staring at the chips in confusion. When Jawbreaker had told Sergeant Kelborn that they were going to receive shore-leave, their former trainer had sent them some money to spend. While it had not been unsubstantial, this was different somehow. 

“You helped me catch Leesees, you get half the bounty. Only fair,” Becca said, shrugging.

Genet frowned, aside from the money that Kelborn had sent them, this was the first time that anyone had paid him for anything. “And…how much was he worth?”

“Eh, about ten thousand,” Becca replied, as if it were a small amount. 

Genet blinked, shocked by that. “I…what?” Genet liked to think that he was quick-witted, but he had no idea what to say to that. 

“Yeah, they really wanted him back.” 

“I can’t accept this much money.” Genet pushed his palm back at Becca, who just grabbed it and pushed it back towards him. 

“Yeah, you can,” Becca said, her tone firm. “You helped, you earned it. Besides, I’m sure it beats however much the army’s paying you.”

Genet paused, then decided not to tell Becca that he wasn’t getting paid. He was afraid that might just make her more insistent. “Um, yeah, yeah it does.” 

Becca nodded. “Right, so take it. Buy yourself something pretty.”

Genet wasn’t sure what exactly he would buy, and while part of him was uncomfortable, another was appreciative. He looked over at Becca and gave her a small, hesitant smile. “Thanks. This ah, this might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me.” 

Becca shrugged and gave him a sideways look. “Well, what can I say? I like to make a good first impression.”

Genet glanced down at the credits in awe. “A very good first impression.” 

“Damn right.” 

With a ding, the turbolift doors opened.


End file.
